Post-90 grads not as keen to buy homes as predecessors

(ECNS) -- A report released Friday shows that graduates born in the 1990s are not as eager to buy houses as their predecessors, a sign that traditional notions of homeownership are weakening.

Most graduates born in the 1980s and 1990s agree that owning a home is essential to creating a solid foundation, but the proportion of those born in the 90s is relatively lower, according to the blue paper by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The survey asked participants if "buying a house" made them feel that they were truly "at home." It collected 10,765 samples from 12 universities in China, and found that 96.8 percent of those born in the 80s "totally agree" or "agree." The number is 88.2 percent among those born after 1990, and 85.4 percent for those born after 1995.

More than 60 percent of graduates born in the 80s would take on a heavy mortgage, while more than half of those born in the 90s say they would not. About 45 percent of those born after the 1990 say they would like to spend money on enjoying life.

The change in attitude about buying houses is related to high property prices, the blue paper said.

The paper also found that competition and living costs are higher in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but that graduates did not leave these cities for those reasons.